Car-seal.



515759555. 5 PATENTED MAY 10, 190.4.

- w. K. EDGAR.

GAR SEAL. 7

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2s, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented May 10, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM KERR EDGAR. OF IOLA, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO JAMES W. FRENCH, OF IOLA, KANSAS.

CAR-SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,355, dated May 10, 1904.

Application filed May 23, 1903.

To a whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM KERR EDGAR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Iola, in the county of Allen and Stateof Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to car-seals; and my object is to produce what I term a universal car sealc'. 6., one applicable to the freight-car equipment of all railroads and which eliminates all possibility of av car being opened by unauthorized persons without discovery by the inspector at the next station passed. I

A further object is to produce a device of this character which can be easily and quickly applied in operative position and which is of simple and cheap construction.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization, as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which" Figure 1 is a perspective view of a common form of door-pin equipped with a car-seal embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the car-seal and of the lower portion of said pin. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section taken on the line 111 III of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is asectional perspective view of the frangible pocket. Fig. 5 is a detail plan View of the spring-catch.

Referring to the drawings in detail, which show the various parts full size, except Fig. 3, enlarged, 1 designates a pocket constructcd of clay, glass, cast-iron, or other material which when broken cannot be quickly and practically mended. This pocket is preferably of oblong rectangular form and at one end is provided with a mouth or opening 2, communicating with the pocket-chamber 3, said mouth and chamber being preferably of oblong rectangular form in cross-section. The chamber 3 is wider than opening 2, so as to form at one edge of the latter the shoulder 4, said shoulder being at the front end of the chamber. At the same edge of opening 2.as

Serial No. 158.464. (N0 model.)

' shoulder the chamber is longitudinally extended or deepened, so as to form a shoulder 5 at the base of the chamber and diagonally opposite shoulder 1. The other preferably non-mendable member of the seal is in the form of a cast-iron or other frangible key, consisting of a head or enlargement 6 and a shank 7, having a slightly pointed or rounded end and having its opposite edges notched, so as to produce ratchet-teeth 8 with their beveled sides converging forwardly. The front end of the key is of substantially blunt arrow-head form. I

The third member of the car-seal is of springwire by preference and substantially d shape inside view. It is made by bending a piece of wire at its Iniddle,as at 9,to form forwardlydiverging arms 10 and then bending said arms 10 back upon themselves, as at 11, to'form conjointly a tooth.

Before the time arrives for use the pockets are equipped with the'spring-catches, the ends 9 of the same being slipped in openings 2, so that when pressed in sufliciently far they will pass under shoulder 5 and permit the catch to enter the long portion of chamber3 and dropdown-behind shoulder 4:, the parts being so proportioned that when the catch occupies the position mentioned its tooth shall project above the contiguous edge of opening-2. Being composed of two diverging spring-arms, it is held from rattling around in the pocket and accidental dislocation therefrom by the pressure of said arms against the sides of the pocket, as shown most clearly in Fig. 3.

The pocket equipped with the catch and the key are kept separate until applied to seal a car-door or a warehouse door or window or its equivalent. When such function is required of it in connection with a car where the usual apertured locking-pin, as at 12, is employed, the key is slipped through the aperture 13 and then into the opening 2 of the pocket 1. Pressure is then brought to bear upon the head of the key and the rear end of the pocket, so as to force the former into the latter. In such action the arrow-head of the key-shank overcomes the resistance of the catch-tooth and springs it downward until its end registers with the foremost notch, when the tooth immediately springs upward into said notch and irrevocably locks the key in the pocket. If the distance between the pin and front end of the pocket exceeds the length of one of the notches 8, the operator presses the key and pocket together until said catch snaps into the next notch or into the third or any subsequent one, it being understood that as each beveled tooth passes it springs catchtooth l1 downward and that the latter instantly resumes its original position after disengagement with the tooth, so as to be ready to resist opposite movement by said key and pocket. At the instant such opposite movement is applied the catch tilts pivotally against shoulder 4 until its opposite end strikes the under side of shoulder 5, which thus acts as a brace to hold the catch in such position that the strain imposed uponits tooth is largely in the line of its length, the result being .it successfully withstands any strain that can'be imposed upon it by pulling the key and pocket in=opposite directions. It will be seen, therefore, that it is only possible to withdraw the key from the locking-pin by either breaking the former or smashing the pocket. If the key-is broken and it can be broken easily, because it will be preferably constructed of frail gray or brittle tle ironit will still be impossible for'one, if equipped with another key, to extract the beveled shank of the broken one from the pocket without destroying the latter. On the other hand, if the pocket is destroyed without injuring the key a new pocket is necessary, and as all of the pockets used are serially numbered when they are baked, if of clay, which is the preferred material used in their manufacture, it would be very improbable that an unauthorized person would be able to replace the shattered pocket with an unnumbered-one which would pass the inspector.

It will thus be seen that I have produced a car-seal which with a key of sufiicient length is applicable to the locking-pins of practically all car equipment and which also possesses the other features of advantage enumerated asdesirable in the statement of invention.

1 am aware that car-seals have been patented embodying a pocket containinga springcatch and a key to enter the pocketandengage the catch; but in such devices the catch is rigidly embedded in the pocket. The pocket which I prefer to employ is first formed of raw clay and afterward baked, the baking requiring a temperature so high that a springcatch within the pocket would be either melted or lose its temper. I My claim involves a construction in which the spring-catch must be fitted into the pocket after the latter is completed and in which, therefore,the catch is not embedded by the solidifying or hardening of the substance of which the pocket is made.

Having thus-described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a pocket having an internal shoulder, a spring-catch fitting snugly but loosely in the pocketand having one end adapted to bear against said shoulder and its opposite end against the front wall of the pocket, .and provided at the filast-named end with a tooth projecting into the plane of the pocket-mouth, and a key extending into the pocket and having its end therein provided with a head or enlargement-engaged and held reliably in the pocket by the tooth-of said catch.

2. The combinationof a pocket of substan- .tiallyoblong rectangular form in cross-section and provided at its front end with a mouth or entrance-opening, and at its opposite end and diagonally opposite said mouth with an extension which increases the depth of the pocket, a key projecting into the pocket and through said mouth and having a substantially arrowshaped head therein, and a catch adapted to be inserted into the pocket through its mouth and having one end fitting in said pocket extension and its opposite end bearing against the front wall of the pocket, and provided witha toothengaging the backof the arrowhead of the key; said catch comprising duplicate portions pressing in opposite directions against the contiguous side walls of the pocket. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM KERR EDGAR.

Witnesses:

I. F. SPAWR,

G. MAYFIELD. 

